Gear Review: La Sportiva Miura

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Sole Rubber - Formula XSV 4 mm.
Retail - $146.00

Deep in the heart of Spain - scientist poured over diagrams, schematics and fine glasses of wine - until finally they came up with a name that is phonetically impossible for Americans to pronounce. Miura.

The shoe's origins started when La Sportiva created the Mirage. The Mirage shoe was basically a cambered toe version of the Mythos, made for toeing in on steep pocket and sporting the wild lacing system that goes around the heal and laces all the way down to the top of your toes. So taking the idea of a stiffer, performance based shoe - they created a great product (and put Lynn Hill in a pair to boot) made it a horrible key lime green and dubbed it the unpronounceable moniker.

Cutting to the chase, what came out of their shop was a stiffer and more aggressive shoe. The lacing system is standard on this model, making for fairly easy on and off action. Where this shoe explodes is in its wicked nature on small foot holds and pockets. Bouldering in this shoe is fun because you get to be so precise on holds, in turn giving you the feeling that you're using much less power in your arms. It's not going to make you any better a climber, but if you know how to use your feet - you'll feel the difference.

Smearing isn't its strong point, as the shoe is pretty darn stiff - but I haven't noticed that it has hindered my ability to smear at all. It just doesn't "excel."

La Sportiva claims it to be a good crack shoe. I would not choose this shoe to be in my crack arsenal. It's designed with a large amount of leather in the toe, which for me and other climbers has the tendency to make the profile too high to be used in thin cracks, and as for wide cracks - I think you'd be better served with a little more liner protection and a thicker rubber sole.

Sizes run pretty small and although the shoe is suede leather, it's lined and probably won't stretch that much. If you're planning on ordering them online, size a pair at a local shop. If none of your local retailers carry it, order 3 different sizes, returning the 2 that don't fit. I was able to squeeze my narrow 10.5 US sized foot into their 42 Europeans. I was having a hard time hobbling around to boulder for a week, but once the broke in and the blister on my toe subsided - they feel great.